Wednesday, February 27, 2008

What follows is a look at the standings with teams ranked based on the point pace they're on, with the right hand column indicating the relative improvement (or step back) of the teams' roster based on moves made the past two days.

I'm including Peter Forsberg and Vinny Prospal in this table.

>>> indicates a team was made considerably stronger<<< indicates a team was made considerably weaker

East

RK

Team

P%

/82

TR

1

NJD

62.5%

102.5

>

2

PIT

61.7%

101.2

>>>

3

OTT

60.9%

99.9

-

4

MTL

60.2%

98.7

<

5

BOS

58.1%

95.3

-

6

NYR

56.3%

92.3

-

7

PHI

54.8%

89.9

>

8

BUF

54.8%

89.9

<

9

CAR

53.8%

88.2

-

10

NYI

52.3%

85.8

-

11

WSH

51.6%

84.6

>>

12

TOR

49.2%

80.7

<

13

FLA

48.5%

79.5

-

14

ATL

48.4%

79.4

<<

15

TBL

46.0%

75.4

<<

West

RK

Team

P%

/82

TR

1

DET

69.2%

113.5

-

2

DAL

63.4%

104.0

>>

3

ANA

59.8%

98.1

>

4

SJS

59.7%

97.9

>>

5

CGY

58.6%

96.1

-

6

VAN

58.1%

95.3

-

7

MIN

57.9%

95.0

-

8

NSH

56.3%

92.3

-

9

PHX

54.8%

89.9

-

10

COL

54.7%

89.7

>>>

11

STL

52.4%

85.9

<

12

CBJ

52.3%

85.8

<<

13

CHI

51.6%

84.6

<

14

EDM

49.2%

80.7

-

15

LAK

43.8%

71.8

<

The point being here is that teams near the top are likely to be buyers, Stanley Cup contenders looking to solidify their position, and those at the bottom are prepping for next season.

In the west, no one in playoff position took a step back, although quite a few teams stood pat. In the east, Montreal and Buffalo sold off fairly key cogs for various reasons.

On paper, Washington and Colorado should be the teams to watch for, but it doesn't always work out that way..

6 Comments:

1) We would disagree that the Penguins are a 3>>>. Was the penguins weakness in scoring? If not, how will Hossa make them much better? 2) In our opinion losing guys who are hard working role players who can chip in offensively/are well liked by team mates is an intangible negative that shouldn't be overlooked3) Has Hossa in his NHL career shown to be a clutch playoff performer? After all this is a clear rental. If he fails in the post season it was a colossal blunder!

Alfredsson and just about every other long-time Senator weren't considered playoff performers until last year.

Hossa put up 16 points (5th in the league, I believe) in 18 games in 2003, so you can't say he's a total goat.

The Penguins still have a bevy of hard-working players and role players (Talbot, Kennedy, Ruutu, Taffe, soon Hall and maybe The Gary Roberts) but what they didn't have until 2:53 yesterday was a winger who could keep up with Crosby. Now they do.

Is it risky for the future? You bet! Could this look like a terrible deal if/when another team signs Hossa July 1? Absolutely. Is there a way to keep this team together for long? Probably not.

But there is no doubt Hossa to the Pens makes them, in my eyes, the clear team to beat in the East this season. And they weren't at this time yesterday.

Actually I believe that, along with defensive toughness, scoring is one of the two biggest Penguin weaknesses -- secondary scoring, that is. They have high scoring individuals, but as a team they get little from lines 2-4. Hossa allows the team to keep the Malkin-Sykora-Malone line intact when Crosby returns, so this trade basically gives them a whole new scoring line.

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About Me

James has covered the NHL and the game of hockey since 2004, beginning with this website and continuing with The Globe and Mail (2008-16) and The Athletic. He is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, a long-time radio analyst with TSN and was the NHL network manager at SB Nation from 2008 to 2010. A graduate of Thompson Rivers and Ryerson universities, James grew up in Kamloops, B.C. as a season ticket holder in the Blazers' glory years.

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